Lose the Plastic Water Bottle — Our Health is Paying for the Convenience
8 Comments
After our FitMom expert and mommy-hood blogger, Andrea Page, wrote on Bispehnol-A (BPA), a potentially harmful chemical also known as “bad plastics”, from the perspective of what new mothers should know in regards to baby bottles and feeding choices, it made me start thinking about all those water bottles I use. Those same plastics are, of course, in many of the ubiquitous reusable water bottles we all carry and it’s time to rethink that! Like everyone, I go through a lot of water bottles in a week and carry a reusable with me always. Even the personal reusable plastic water bottle might not be the answer after 2 findings showcase their failing grades: a study done by the University of Cincinnati concluding that BPAs are released when bottles are exposed to boiling hot water (my method of cleaning) and that reusable plastic water bottles leach BPAs at room temperature.
Now, with all this information in front of me, and my desire to keep our environment and our health first and foremost, I started to look deeper into plastics, which indeed is where the problem lies.
According to National Geographic’s The Green Guide, “…the plastic used in both single-use and reusable bottles can pose a contamination threat… #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE), the most common resin used in disposable bottles is considered safe if used once. But, as #1 bottles are reused, which they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a known carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter. Also, because the plastic is porous you’ll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles…”
So where does that put us. When you’re on the move, stainless steel water bottles are the best option. I prefer the Klean Kanteen line that also carries children’s sippy cups. At your desk or at home, use a glass pitcher, or buy water in glass bottles, making sure, of course, to recycle them. At the gym, no more reusing our plastic water bottles, rinsing them with hot water and refilling them. Finally, I would not use packaged water bottles that have been sitting at room temperature for an unknown period of time. Think, in the long run, this will be better for the Earth and once again - it looks like all these conveniences are leading us back to more basics: I’ll take mine in stainless or glass, thank you.
Written by: Michelle Barge
“#1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE), the most common resin used in disposable bottles is considered safe if used once. But, as #1 bottles are reused, which they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA”
Statement is complete rubbish. Polyethylene terephthalate production does not use plasticizer DEHA, or any other (DINP, DIOP, etc). The chemistry involved in PET is completely different than that for polycarbonate or polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which do use plasticizers. Please rescind this erroneous claim.
Thank you for bringing this up. It was just world water day and we take for granted how precious our water is. 50% of world disease is caused from lack of adequate water. If you think oil is a problem now just wait, we need to preserve our most valuable resource.
Check out the water exhibit at the museum of natural history http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/water/
Don thank you for your comment. I love a robust dialogue. First, this is my interpretation of the research I found while being alerted to this situation. And second, I’m not a scientist, but do research thoroughly. The above was taken and cited from National Geographics - The Green Guide: “Water aside, the plastic used in both single-use and reusable bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles. However, as #1 bottles are reused, which they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a known carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter. According to the January 2006 Journal of Environmental Monitoring, some PET bottled-water containers were found to leach antimony, an elemental metal that is an eye, skin, and lung irritant at high doses. Also, because the plastic is porous you’ll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles…” Thank you for reading our blog and commenting.
Dave - thanks for the link, man!
@Don Lando
Do you have a publication(s) to backup your claim? It’s one thing to call something rubbish and prove that is is rubbish. Just calling something rubbish without backing yourself up is entirely different.
I’m digging out my stainless steel botle which I had for years but only use it for hot water or tea. Couldn’t agree with you more on we need to be back to basic, save our health and save the Earth
I like the Berkey water filters
Thanks, Max. I’ll check them out!